"How dare you say I deceived my son?"
Whitebeard stood at the bow, furious. With a single punch, he shattered the towering iceberg in front of him and cleared a path.
"You are pirates. What you choose to believe is up to you. If you're willing to follow me as my sons, then follow me into battle — even if it costs your lives!"
After saying that, Whitebeard no longer held back. He leapt down from the bow and stepped onto the battlefield.
"Prepare for battle! The strongest man in the world is about to move!"
The moment Whitebeard acted, Sengoku felt alarm bells ringing in his mind.
He knew better than anyone how terrifying Whitebeard's power was. That kind of destructive force had left a deep impression on the older generation of Marines.
A Giant Vice Admiral rushed forward, trying to block Whitebeard's advance.
But after just one clash, he was sent flying.
Whitebeard raised both hands and grabbed the air itself.
Then he pulled.
It was as if he had seized a curtain and flipped it over.
Vibrations spread out in every direction.
The sky darkened. The sea churned violently. The ground trembled.
The air cracked like shattered glass, splitting into countless fragments. Each fragment shook violently, spreading destruction across the battlefield.
The earth seemed to come alive, tearing open with massive cracks that swallowed Marines whole.
"This old man is insane!"
Doflamingo bound himself tightly to the ground with threads so he wouldn't be thrown away by the tremors. He laughed, but his eyes were serious.
Even he felt uneasy watching this.
"Flame Cloud!"
Vice Admiral Onigumo, now transformed into a pink Azure Dragon, released thick flame clouds and wrapped them around Marineford. The clouds lifted and stabilized the plaza, separating it from the shaking ground below.
Marineford rose slightly, no longer directly connected to the fractured earth.
"Damn Kaido!"
Whitebeard couldn't help but curse. Even if this had nothing to do with Kaido personally, the Devil Fruit was based on Kaido's bloodline, so he blamed him anyway.
"Vice Admiral Onigumo!"
The Marines cheered loudly.
At the same time, the Navy's next measure began. A massive steel wall rose from the seabed, sealing off the harbor. The encirclement plan had officially begun.
They intended to trap the Whitebeard Pirates completely.
"To think it can even do that… It's almost no different from Kaido."
Doflamingo stared at Onigumo in dragon form.
He knew the flaws of Artificial Devil Fruits better than most.
Most artificial fruits failed. Many only caused side effects, such as uncontrollable laughter. Even successful ones were incomplete, unable to achieve full transformation.
But Onigumo was different.
Aside from the color of his scales, he was almost identical to Kaido.
For a moment, Doflamingo felt tempted. If he hadn't already eaten the String-String Fruit, he would have tried one himself.
A person could only eat one Devil Fruit in their lifetime. That was an iron rule proven with blood.
"I wonder if Artificial Devil Fruits conflict with real ones…" Doflamingo muttered.
At that moment, Xiao appeared behind him and casually held out another Artificial Azure Dragon Fruit.
"I haven't tested that yet. Want to try?"
"Are you joking? I'm not risking my life."
Doflamingo pushed his hand away immediately.
"Then I'll find someone else."
Xiao looked around the battlefield.
Most Devil Fruit users were on the Navy's side. On Whitebeard's side, there were only Jozu, Marco, and Whitebeard himself.
Not enough samples.
He grabbed a Vice Admiral who had eaten the Dog-Dog Fruit.
"Vice Admiral, would you like to test—"
"No."
Rejected before he could finish.
After several failed attempts, Xiao gave up. Testing like this was pointless.
Instead, he shifted his attention.
Straight ahead, Luffy was charging through the battlefield, relying on the Whitebeard Pirates to clear the way for him. They were fighting and sacrificing themselves to push him forward.
"I've heard a lot about you, Straw Hat."
Xiao picked up a baseball bat from somewhere and stepped in front of Luffy, blocking his path.
He didn't use a spiked club. Luffy was still young. If he hit too hard, he might actually kill him.
That wasn't the point.
He just wanted to test something.
After all, the World Government had been suppressing Joy Boy's will for eight hundred years. If Luffy died here, would anything really change?
"It's you! Curly-head! Let Hancock go!"
Luffy immediately recognized him.
But Xiao ignored the accusation and spoke calmly.
"First, Straw Hat. Do you know what Haki is?"
Without waiting for an answer, he continued.
"Haki is something you awaken by being beaten again and again. Either you die in battle… or you learn it."
The silver bat in his hand turned black as Armament Haki covered it.
Then he swung.
The bat came down directly toward Luffy's head.
"First base."
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